

Tondelayo, Snafu, and Sorry Satchul
Ordeal of Tondelayo Painting by Steve W. Ferguson by way of Lawrence J. Hickey This most famous B-25 of the 500th Bomb Squadron was named after Hedy Lamar's sultry character in the movie "White Cargo." The above picture shows TONDELAYO is fighting for her life with 1/Lt. Ralph G. Wallace at the controls, its right engine shot out, skimming over the water of St. George's Channel after bombing a Japanese ship at Vunapope near Rabaul on October 18, 1943. On the left wing is the
To End A War
Some time back, I read an article about the bomb dropped over Nagasaki in August of 1945, in which the writer compared it to the nazi holocaust. On this Memorial Day weekend there are other apparent attempts by a few people, in and out of public office, to kindle blame in need of apologies for a decision that ended the Second World War. For many, the discussion is an academic exercise in self-contrived moral and ethical positioning. For many others, myself included, it is a
When they come home...
Pondering today's veterans' issues, I've always wondered what was different about those who came home from a horrific world war whose carnage claimed the lives of over 400,000 Americans and millions upon millions more around the world. They were my father's generation so I knew many of them well; and looking back, all I remember was folks working, doing business, teaching, treating, leading, preaching, farming, ranching, making things, and all the rest. They carried scars, bu